Vena (Manga)
Vena ( ビーナ Biina, '' Venus'' in the Tokyopop translation ) is the second-eldest of the Pu'Awak princesses, and plays a prominent part in the ''Underground Empire of Yomi ''arc, informing the team of the Yomi Kingdom's existence and where they can find Black Ghost. Appearance Vena is differentiated from her sisters by not wearing the princess gown, but instead initially wearing a deep yellow coat with oversized buttons and matching suit pants. However, this is quickly changed to her just wearing the coat over a blue turtleneck and heeled shoes. She wears a tiara composed of a black band and red gems. Like Helen and her other sisters, she has very pale skin, spiked-up blonde hair, and black sparkling eyes that lack visible sclerae. Personality and Relationships Vena is more authoritative in comparison to Helen, and is seen as the most responsible by her sisters. She is willing to do whatever she feels will benefit her and her siblings, even if it's taking risks by playing both sides. She is desperate to be free from the Zattan and the Black Ghost, and becomes attached to 004 as a result, even though he rebuffs the feelings that she has for him. Initially, she appears to still have loyalty to Black Ghost and winds up getting a bunch of the team captured, but then reveals to 004 that she was actually against the organization from the start, and had to do what she could for the safety of her sisters. Albert Heinrich/004 The two are at odds when they first meet, as Vena winds up responsible for getting his teammates and Dr. Gilmore captured by Black Ghost. After they went on the run from the Black Ghost robots, he became aggravated by her need to explain her history and situation, wondering if he could really trust her, though she insisted she truly wanted to leave Yomi. She grows more attached to 004, crying and insisting that they run away somewhere together, while 004 refuses her advances due to his feeling of no longer being human, as well as his duty as a 00 Cyborg. Even so, 004 grows attached towards her in turn by the end of the arc, with him vowing to free her from Van Vogt. Unfortunately, he does not get the chance to do so, as she's promptly shot dead by Van Vogt for her betrayal. 004 is shown mourning her corpse, which drives him to insist that Van Vogt is his to deal with and kill. In the scene with 004's promise, Vena can briefly be seen smiling and relieved, but as she and Helen walk on, she is shown with a tearful, downcast expression, perhaps indicating that she knew what fate was in store for her and that 004 wouldn't be able to save her. Abilities Vena has the ability to communicate telepathically with her other four sisters, as part of the powers that the Pu'Awak species developed. She is able to sense what her siblings are feeling and thinking. History 006 and 007 had attempted to infiltrate Mitsutomo Engineering under the guise of wanting to buy an ultra-sonic wave cannon, only to be found out by the Cyborg Men and a mysterious woman who resembled Helen. Assuming that Helen had betrayed them, the two cyborgs tried to shoot her, but were fired upon and captured by the Cyborg Men. After the two failed to return, 009, 003, and 005 headed to the engineering company to go find them. While there, 003 sensed that Helen was with them, but the identical woman showed herself and revealed that she was Helen's younger sister, Vena. Vena ordered the cyborgs to leave the building, but was knocked out by 003's ray gun. The three cyborgs managed to free 007 and 006, and made their way back to Dr. Gilmore's research center, where 001 confirmed that Helen and Vena were sisters. 003 then revealed that she had learned from Vena of a mysterious "Underground Empire" that Black Ghost had financed. Soon after, Van Vogt and the Cyborg Men ambushed 009's house (where the team and Dr. Gilmore had been staying), blowing it up. In the wake of the battle, the rest of the team and the sisters had managed to vacate to the Dolphin, and Vena directed them on where they could find the Yomi Kingdom. As they burrowed down, Vena's mind link to Dinah enabled her to pass on the team's whereabouts to Van Vogt. The two groups wound up forcibly split up while in Yomi after trying to evade Van Vogt's drill mecha, with Vena winding up in 004's group. They were soon ambushed by the Rutal Tribe, prehistoric beastmen that lived as one of the underground species. Vena then told her story to the team: A year ago, Black Ghost had arrived in Yomi and overthrew the Zattan species that was ruling over the Pu'Awaks, granting their species freedom. The Zattan had also been using the Pu'Awaks as spare rations, devouring them. But the Zattan had not been truly defeated, and Vena sensed that they had hypnotized Helen and the others. In their attempts to find the other group, they were ambushed by Black Ghost's robots. Vena then took Dr. Gilmore hostage and claimed that she was only loyal to Black Ghost, and had been transmitting their location the entire time. While the robots set to detain everyone in the group, 004 grabbed Vena and took her as his own hostage. In the midst of the destruction caused by the robots, and the rest of the group being taken away, 004 and Vena had escaped, upon which Vena revealed that she had only been acting in her betrayal and that she'd known all along Black Ghost hadn't cared for her species. The two spotted 009's group, but were ambushed by the mind-controlled 009. Later on, Vena and 004 would wind up captured by the Black Ghost guard robots, and Van Vogt would order them to be executed in the coliseum. As they were being charged by killer robots, Vena begged 004 to tell her his true name, and learned that he was "Albert Heinrich". The two were freed by the timely arrival of the rest of the 00 team. The team would then learn that Van Vogt was holding Dr. Gilmore hostage, in exchange for Helen and Vena. The two sisters agreed to be traded, but upon their reunion with their other siblings, were promptly shot dead. After the princesses' deaths, their bodies were cremated by 006's fire-breath, to give them a proper send-off. Gallery Vena_firstmanga.png|The first sighting of Vena. Vena_suit.png|Vena is shot by 003's gas gun. Note the pantsuit instead of her better-known manga outfit. DeathofPuawaks_manga.png|Vena and her sisters are shot by Van Vogt for their betrayal. DeathofVena_manga.png|004 mourns Vena. Notes *Long before she was adapted for the 2001 anime, Vena appeared in a 1981 Cyborg 009 The Movie: Legend of the Super Galaxy guidebook, as part of a series of illustrations done in the film's style that aimed to recreate scenes from the manga. She was depicted as wearing a deep pink tiara and coat, as well as wearing white kneesocks to go along with her shoes. *As mentioned on her disambiguation page, Ishinomori and IshimoriPro had never given an official English notation for her name, which has lead for it to not only be interpreted as Vena or Veena, but also spellings such as Beena and Binah (Hebrew for "wisdom"), which also share the same katakana. It could be possible that her name could have been intended to reference the goddess Venus, in following along with other sisters' naming patterns, but this remains up for debate. The spelling "Venu" has also been rarely used, as a way to reference the goddess' name while dropping the s/"su" character, though the spelling would be unconventional. Category:Female characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Manga Characters